Lucha Worth Watching: Older Man Belt Whippin'

LA Park vs. Cibernetico (Liga Elite 4/13/16)

ER: This was a great fat Elvis performance from Park: Missing half the words on Suspicious Minds, a lot of catching his breath, playing to the crowd too much, letting them sing the words so he can catch his breath more, looking even more unhealthy since the last time you saw him...yet you can't tear your eyes away from one of the most captivating performers ever. Park is the biggest I've seen him, and Cibernetico still wrestles like Cibernetico. But it's an Arena Mexico main event, big crowd, and they love Park. Cibernetico jumps him on the rampway and kicks him into the ring. Cibernetico runs this thing for awhile, rips at Park's mask, rips Park's belt/girdle off. Park ends up hitting a big dive, splatting onto the floor, and whips Cibernetico with that belt. I love belt whipping in lucha, the mannerisms and crowd play just make it the best. Ref keeps trying to stop him and Park keeps going yeah yeah yeah I'm still gonna whip him. Eventually we build to Park hitting a mammoth plancha off the top to the floor, filmed from below so it looks like he's jumping off an apartment building. Both men lie dead on the floor, with medical staff coming over to potentially stretcher Cibernetico away, after having just witnessed him being crushed by a dropped piano. Park makes it back inside and looks vulnerable. I can't imagine being that heavy and doing a big dive like that. He drags himself back in and still manages to play to the fans. Finish is a mess with Park getting unmasked then fouling Cibernetico, but they did a weird double pin with both men supposedly covering each other but with it only looking like Park is covering. We get hair and mask challenges after and the fans flip out, and the whole time I was just sitting there slack jawed in admiration of the big fat king.

Ultimo Guerrero vs. Volador Jr. (CML 8/30/16)

ER: You wanna double down on your old man lucha whippings? Of course you do! Here UG jumps Volador on the ramp and begins whipping him around with his plastic-y vest. First we get some standard shots to the back but before long UG is juts whipping Volador right across the face with this vest. Have you ever been snapped by a towel? It stings like hell. And it's usually to the hip or thigh or buttock. But here UG is essentially towel whipping Volador in the face and it sucks for Volador and is awesome for us. UG whips him to the floor and knocks him into the front row (CMLL tecnicos have really perfected that quick head over heels bump over the railing into the crowd) and launches his hip attack. Match peaks with Volador going for a flip dive to the floor and getting caught, lifted into powerbomb position, and flung sideways into the barrier. Good gracious. Later on UG would one up Volador's bump over the barrier by taking a fast Jerry bump to the floor before getting nailed with a Volador flip dive. I don't typically care for the terceras in these kind of main events, and before long we're in the morass of 2.9 counts after big moves and a transparent fake fault finish. The big moves down the stretch built fine, and there was especially impressive moment where Volador was going for a top rope rana, UG blocked it, lifted him up for a top rope powerbomb, and while UG was jumping off the ropes to deliver the bomb Volador reversed it back into the rana. Crazy/impressive stuff. Come for the nasty vest whipping, stay around for a couple pros doing their thing amid some impressive shows of strength.